You’ve probably seen this video on your Facebook feed by now. It was posted on Monday, and, as of this writing, it’s been shared 1.3 million times. It’s closing in on 53 million views. You don’t really need to know who Tomi Lahren is, nor even what The Blaze is, to understand the message of these three-and-a-half minutes.
Take another look at those numbers. That kind of reach is palpable. Name the last New York Times op-ed by a National Thought Leader to attract that kind of audience and attention. This video is currently informing public opinion, for worse. There is no value in offering a point-by-point assessment of what makes this video so awful, because those who eagerly watch and share it won’t care. We’re well beyond even a shred of healthy or intelligent discourse on this particular topic.
But this video is a study in the dark art of bait and switch.
Actually, it’s not even hidden:
We’ve had a black president for almost eight years now, maybe he failed you. We also have a black woman in charge of the justice department, maybe she failed you, too. Or maybe it’s the liberals, your saviors, which have run your communities into the ground. Where does the buck stop? When will those in black communities take a step back and take some responsi-damn-bility for the problems in black communities?
See where it pivots from singular to plural there?
That’s when it stops being about Kaepernick.
It was never about Kaepernick.
This video is about Angry White People. Trump’s success is about Angry White People. Look at the person who has shared this on your Facebook feed. Surely there is at least one. Is he or she an angry white person?
